Jason Whittle
The Birth of a Word
There are those people in life…
It was pretty cool to witness the slow birth of a new word. Personally, I felt like the ‘true’ or ‘original’ meaning of the word got messed up during its slow path to the mainstream. I’ll come back to that. I stumbled on the definition below recently. When I did, I was a little disappointed. The definition is narrow and clearly defined. It’s got its pros and cons, but I feel like we wasted an opportunity to create a much more interesting, broad and complex word.
The word ‘catfish’ was born out of the 2010 documentary of the same name. I’ll never forget watching that documentary. I was living in a share house with some other guys in their early 20s. It blew their minds too. By the end we were yelling WHAAAT!? If you haven’t seen it and want to experience it untainted, I’d suggest stopping at this point and coming back to this after watching it, but if you cbf doing that, read on.
The original definition of the term ‘catfish’ was actually created by Angela’s husband - Vince. Vince doesn’t freak out about his wife’s elaborate world of lies and her weird online relationship with Nev. Nope, instead he makes this amazingly interesting analysis of his wife, and of people in general. Vince pays attention to the silver lining…
Vince: “They used to take cod from Alaska all the way to China. They’d keep them in vats in the ship. By the time the codfish reached China, the flesh was mush and tasteless. So this guy came up with the idea that if you put these cods in these big vats, put some catfish in with them and the catfish will keep the cod agile. And there are those people who are catfish in life. And they keep you on your toes. They keep you guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh. And I thank god for the catfish because we would be droll, boring and dull if we didn’t have somebody nipping at our fin.”
That amazing insight is how the term “catfish/catfishing” was born. When I heard that, I saw a much broader meaning of the word than its current definition. Here is the exact point where the word was born (for me anyway):
“…there are those people who are catfish in life. And they keep you on your toes. They keep you guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh…”
So, for me, a Catfish is someone who does the above. In one way or another, we all keep the people around us on their toes. We keep each other guessing and thinking. To some degree we’re all catfish. The way I see it, there is a vast variety of human catfish - you know, metaphorically speaking that is. Keeping each other guessing and thinking doesn’t have to be through deception.
Some of the motives behind lying to and misleading people are simple. For example: to swindle you for money. But people also do it for complex emotional needs/wants. It gets even more weird… people lie and mislead others while somehow being convinced they’re being honest. You may have noticed that some politicians do that. Sometimes we can’t even conclude the driving motivations of another person. We’re not sure what they’re thinking or feeling, but we have to make decisions anyway. I know the people around me aren’t guessing what I’m thinking or feeling. I imagine that my (sometimes) intense conversation serves part of the same purpose (i.e thinking). I try to be honest and open. I like that in myself and in other people. At the same time, I know that without the catfish, I wouldn’t be sharp and fresh. The whole useful skeptical area of my mind would not develop. As painful and stressful as it would be, if I were a cod in a vat, I’d choose to have a few catfish in there nipping at my fin. Without the catfish, the cod would not be fit for this world.